


Here They Used To Build Ships

by Urby



Series: Melodies of Life [12]
Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Azurrin Week, F/M, Invisible Kingdom | Revelation Route, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-11
Updated: 2020-01-11
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:21:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22204012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Urby/pseuds/Urby
Summary: Recovery has its ups and downs. Azurrin Week "2019", Day 7: Hear My Cry/Silenced
Relationships: Aqua | Azura/My Unit | Kamui | Corrin
Series: Melodies of Life [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/718761
Kudos: 20





	Here They Used To Build Ships

**Author's Note:**

> This fic takes place almost right after _Between Two Worlds_. Azura is still struggling with her depression, but at least she is back in the Astral Plane.
> 
> Thank you to the Azurrin Week participants for making an otherwise quiet week into one where we can come together to make content of the best dragon-songstress duo. I was busy with vacation to do things on time, but I tried to make things that I wanted to make! Onward to 2020.

"We're going to announce the end of the war to the world."

Azura didn't look up from where Corrin was holding onto her hands.

"We're going to do it together...we, that is, the royal families. Would you like to come with us when we do that?"

She was surprised he was offering her a choice. Then again, he treated her very carefully and deliberately these days. On reconsidering it, she thought it was very reasonable, shrewd even. It was an out for the both of them: she didn't need to tax herself with a long journey so soon after nearly starving herself to death, and he didn't have to keep an eye on her the whole time. If she stayed in the Astral Plane, she would be under watch from many others that would be able to care for her.

"I know you don't like dealing with nobility, and we're going to be doing a lot of that. If you'd rather stay and rest, then I have a project I want to do that you could start working on..." he paused. "Though that means you wouldn't be resting much, I suppose. That's fine --"

"What is the project?"

Instead of answering, Corrin pressed a kiss to her temple. "Never mind. I'd rather you take the time you need to feel better."

He seemed to know she didn't want to come along, so she gave him a little kiss back. "Stay safe, please."

"My brothers and sisters will be with me!" he said, smiling into her hair. She noted that he did not say something like _our brothers and sisters_ , and part of her was bitter that she was excluded. The same part urged her to change her mind and be a part of the royal envoy.

Instead, she focused on enjoying the hug that he gave her and wishing him a fond farewell.

* * *

Azura was disappointed to find that it took almost no time for her to miss Corrin to the point of pain. They'd been practically glued to hip for the past...she was not sure, as time in the Deeprealms was so confusing -- and now he was gone far away. She was cared for, and cared for well: Corrin's retainers tended to her without question or judgment. That only made her feel more pathetic. She was, in some way, someone's _responsibility_ , due to her fragile state of mind. Suddenly without easy access to Corrin's love, she once again felt like a burden.

Once again, she escaped, this time down a path of water to old, broken Valla. She tried to lose herself in it, to walk without thinking and end up somewhere she wouldn't be able to find her way back. She knew she was never truly trapped, as long as she could find water, though. Maybe she could drink everything she found, or bury it, or...do nothing. She found a high place to stand and stare at the land around her.

This was...hers. Or she was of it, perhaps. She tried to take it in, to see it as anything other than a ruin, a battlefield. To imagine a future here, or at least a present.

Her mind was blank. There was nothing here, not now, and not ever after. It occurred to her to feel smug that she'd come to that conclusion - it meant that it was the perfect place for her.

Perfect, and yet...she felt sick thinking about it. She couldn't bring herself to love what she saw, even if she belonged to it.

 _Nohr didn't love you. Hoshido didn't love you. And yet_ , her own voice jeered in her mind. She winced.

If any place would love and accept her, it would be this place, wouldn't it? The last of the ruling Vallites, finally returned.

"Do you love me?" she yelled out into the emptiness.

She waited for the abyss to throw back an echo. It did not.

 _A dead, forgotten place, for a girl who so desperately wants to believe she should be dead and forgotten_ , her thoughts began again.

Azura covered her eyes, trying to hold back tears. She couldn't stop thoughts like those, as much as she wanted to move on from them. Not just for her sake, but for others...

_When will it end!_

Unable to stop herself from crying, she stood as straight as she could and gazed upon the broken, floating islands beyond. She would make something of this place - despite the ruin, despite her despair. Perhaps it would even be of use to Corrin's project, if he chose to involve her in it.

She might not be able to fix the broken world, but she could do something with it. She could hold on until she saw Corrin again. With that decision, Azura turned back, looking for a way back to the Astral Plane.


End file.
